Comments of Construction Trades Workforce Initiative on the California Energy Commission Equitable Building Decarbonization Program

By Beli Acharya, Andreas Cluver, Bill Whitney, and Danny Bernardini - Construction Trades Workforce Initiative (CTWI), January 12, 2023

Alameda, Contra Costa and Napa-Solano Building & Construction Trades Councils (BTC) and Construction Trades Workforce Initiative (CTWI) respectfully submits our comments in response to the California Energy Commission (CEC) Equitable Building Decarbonization Program Request for Information (RFI).

CTWI is the nonprofit partner of the East Bay Building Trades, working to ensure the long term sustainability of the construction industry by bridging the gap between union construction labor and key stakeholders. The three BTC’s together represent a coalition of over 30 affiliated unions representing workers in various construction trades throughout the East Bay. Together, CTWI and the three BTC’s act as the collective voice of construction trade labor.

We support equitable efforts toward decarbonization and climate sustainability, and we believe the California Energy Commission (CEC) initiative to develop and implement an Equitable Building Decarbonization Program is a great opportunity to advance these shared goals. We appreciate the opportunity to submit comments for consideration.

It is important that equity be considered for all stakeholders involved in the program. We believe that decarbonization work and climate sustainability can be achieved in a manner that allows for everyone to be better off and collectively prosper. There is a clear emphasis in the program on equity for low-to-moderate-income residents and ensuring that the program is accessible to these residents. There must also be a clear emphasis on equity for the low-to-moderate-income workers who will be performing the work and labor involved in the program. The jobs created and utilized by the program should be quality, high road jobs available to local and disadvantaged residents.

One way to ensure that the jobs created and utilized in the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program is through the adoption of Labor Standards. Work conducted under the program ideally should meet the following Labor Standards:

• Require prevailing wages at every contracting tier
• Healthcare Portable and available to dependents and should meet Covered California’s Silver Level
• Portable retirement benefits
• Participating in a State approved apprenticeship program that trains a skilled workforce
• Attainment of industry appropriate certifications
• Regional targeted hire requirements to ensure the participation of disadvantaged workers and/or
  graduates from approved MC3 pre-apprenticeship programs
• A history of abidance with building code and labor laws
• Adopting a Multi-Craft Community Workforce Agreement or Project Labor Agreement negotiated with
  the Building Trades

The collective set of Labor Standards outlined above will ensure that the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program creates and utilizes quality, high road jobs. We encourage CEC to adopt and implement these Labor Standards into the program design, and CTWI and the aforementioned Building Trade Councils stand ready to assist by providing technical assistance in the implementation of them.

We appreciate the CEC for its commitment to this topic, for the inclusion of workforce standards in the RFI, and for the opportunity to comment and engage in this process. We welcome future conversations, as useful and appropriate, to explore the topic of workforce standards more in-depth.

Download a PDF of this statement.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author.